Shepherd's Pie | Basics with Babish

Today's episode is brought to you by Bushmills Irish Whiskey, while many parts of their st. St. Patrick's Day celebrations won't be Irish at all, at least one of them can be when you celebrate by drinking Bushmills, the first Irish whiskey. I edited a link in the video description for more information, for now let's get to the

basics

, so

shepherd

's pie contains four. distinctly Irish ingredients, the first of which, as you might imagine, are potatoes. I have about three pounds of Yukon Golds here that I'm going to peel and eat, but only because they're already pretty small, if you have large potatoes, cut them into smaller pieces. and I'm going to place them in a large saucepan that I'm going to cover with cold water.

Putting the potatoes in cold water and bringing them to a simmer cooks the potatoes more evenly, ensuring the mash is creamy and lump-free. We're boiling these guys for about 20 minutes or until they show no resistance when stabbed with a kitchen knife. Then, just like in this week's binge episode, we drain them, return them to the hot pots, and place them over medium-low heat. I'll then stir them and cook them gently for about a minute, which will remove any excess moisture and ensure the potatoes turn out fluffy rather than heavy. Then we'll turn off the heat and add item number two. on our list of Irish ingredients, some three to four ounces of aged white Irish cheddar cheese, depending on how cheesy you like your potatoes, then about half a cup of high-quality unsalted Irish butter, Irish butter, making sure that your fingers are not too slippery when managing and then this is optional, but I like to load the potatoes with about half a cup of chives, then at this point we mash, ideally use a potato masher by pressing the potatoes through the masher and adding the aforementioned ingredients. after the fact, but if you're like me and can't find your potato masher, a masher will work just fine, we're seasoning the potatoes liberally with kosher salt and white pepper so as not to splatter our potatoes and then in about half a cup of milk I'm dumping 2 egg yolks, beating them and adding them to the now cooled potato mixture, this will help our potato topping brown in the oven, give it one last mix and mash it, make sure it is free of lumps and completely imagine sand then it's time To start our stew, there is only a little bit of Me's left that we have to add.

We are also finely chopping half a large onion and three or four medium carrots, collecting and finely chopping a few sprigs of fresh rosemary and thyme and peeling the garlic then in a stainless steel pan slightly lubricated and preheated we are depositing a pound of lamb, you can use ground beef, but remember that this becomes cottage pie plus the kind of juicy grass that lamb really works well on. Anyway, we're going to divide this recipe into the pan and sear it until it's lightly browned, at which point you'll discover that you have excess lamb fat, so we'll drain most of it and leave two or three tablespoons in the pan. frying pan. directly to the lamb, first we add our finely chopped onions, stirring and sautéing for two or three minutes or until it begins to soften and become translucent on the edges, then we add our carrot, which we are also going to sauté for 2 to 3 minutes or until begins to soften then we are going to make a kind of hole in the middle of the pan in which we are going to crush the garlic.

I go with about 3 cloves because I really like garlic. and then we surround that garlic with a few tablespoons of tomato paste, making a hole in the center of the sauté ensures that the garlic and tomato paste come into direct contact with the heat, then we mix them and sauté for another minute until it is with a very delicious and fragrant smell, then we will add our chopped fresh rosemary at the same time, we stir a little so that those flavors are known and then it is time to make a sauce, we are going to achieve that sauce by adding approximately a tablespoon and a half of flour to this mixture by mixing and cooking until the smell of raw flour dissipates and a beautiful stock has formed at the bottom of the pot about two or three minutes then it's time to delay with our fourth and final Irish ingredients: some stout dark irish I'm adding about a cup of stout and a cup of beef broth to this mixture.

You could use just beef broth if you want, but the stout really kicks it up several notches and then we make sure it scrapes up all that good stuff at the bottom of the pot that's pure flavor, speaking of flavor, we'll also add a few touches of sauce which is very difficult to pronounce and an optional tablespoon or two of Madeira, Last but not least, my Ace in the Hole is one of my frozen Demi glass discs. You may remember when I made them in the bone broth binge episode. If you don't have one on hand, that's fine, it's optional, but if you do, it really makes the difference. between something really good and something that literally and proverbially blows your mind anyway, we're going to cook this until it thickens enough that when you run a spoon through it it leaves a trail and it's not really

shepherd

's pie without some peas, TRUE?

I'm going to cook some fresh peas, but use frozen ones, they're actually better. Once our peas are all cooked, I'm going to pipe the lamb this way we can see all the layers. I'm going to cover that with our cooked peas and then a lot of people cover their shepherd's pie by just putting mashed potatoes on top and chunks and then smoothing it out, but I like to use a piping bag or just a zippered lid. bag like this to distribute it evenly over the top of the cake. Is it a bit disturbing image? But it will ensure that you get an even, clean layer of potatoes on top of your stew, so once you have your mash. all evenly distributed.

I'm going to use something like an offset spatula to level it out and then I'm going to use something like a fork to rough it out because we want as many creases and cracks as humanly possible to promote a lot of corners. and nooks that can be browned and left crispy and delicious. I think that whole phrase could be the name of my next cookbook. I'm going to place this cake pan on a sheet of parchment paper placed on a rimmed baking sheet in case it overflows. or spill, then I'll place it in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 25 minutes, removing it at the 15 minute mark to top it with even more grated cheddar cheese.

This again is totally optional. You can leave the cheese out of this recipe completely and it would still come out wonderfully in the oven, last for the remaining 10 minutes and then I'll throw it under the broiler for two or three minutes until it's super bready and crispy on top and there you have it, maybe not the most. The authentic shepherd's pie in the world, but without a doubt the best I have ever eaten. The potatoes are buttery and chatty. The peas provide a nice earthy contrast and the stew is rich and flavorful beyond reason. You know it will go very well with him. shepherd's pie, that's right, Ireland's first Bushmills whiskey and my saliva-in-a-tube DNA test says I'm 36.5% British or Irish, so you can trust me.

I want to thank Bushmills again for sponsoring today's episode. They are the perfect drink to authenticate your street. St. Patrick's Day celebrations long before rivers turned green and leprechaun hats confused this Irish tradition. The Irish drank Bushmills responsibly and enjoyed each other's company without referring to a single shamrock; After all, it is Ireland's first whiskey and is made in the world's oldest whiskey distillery. Go to the link. from the video description below to see more from Bushmills and remember to celebrate responsibly and maybe not dress like a leprechaun.